The Head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division Is Violating Federal Law and Her Actions May Be Void
Hans von Spakovsky / November 16, 2016
Vanita Gupta, the acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, apparently has been working in violation of federal law for more than a year and a half.
That may render all of the official actions she has taken during that period—lawsuits, demand letters, hires, you name it—“void” and of no effect.
To deter presidents from trying to get around the Senate’s constitutional “advise and consent” role in executive branch appointments, Congress passed the Federal Vacancies Reform Act in 1998. A key section of the law sets restrictions and time limitations on how long someone can remain as the “acting” official in a position that must be confirmed by the Senate.
The assistant attorney general for Civil Rights is one such position, according to the “Plum Book,” the official list of all such positions in the executive branch that is published by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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